UK in the Aurora Programme

John Bridges surveys the scope of UK planetary science and technology, and the prospects for scientific, technical and commercial gains that could result from our participation in the Aurora Programme.The Aurora Programme uniquely brings together planetary scientists, astronomers, physicists, geologists, space technology engineers and chemists, to study the solar system. It captures the research aspirations of a major part of the UK planetary science and technology community - highlighted at the December 2008 RAS meeting. I describe major topics from the meeting, including the scientific impetus for a Mars sample return mission and that ExoMars and other future Mars missions are likely to be ESA-NASA collaborations. The UK is well placed to take a major part in the scientific discoveries that the Aurora Programme and future international collaborations will generate.